"GW/Citadel paints USN WWII color equivalents" Topic

My local LGS stock mostly GW/Citadel paint, and, though I can order online other brands, it's much easier to stop in and pick up a bottle of what I need. To that end I've come up with a list of what I think are the best GW tones that match what I need for most of my USN ships. See what you think:

5-D Dark Gray = Dawnstone, 5-H Haze Gray* = Administratum Grey or Russ Grey, 5-L Lt Gray* = Ulthuan Grey or Fenrisian Grey, 5-P Pale Gray = Celestra Grey, 5-N Navy Blue = Kantor Blue, 5-O Ocean Blue = Thunderhawk Blue, 5-S Sea Blue = Alaitoc Blue, 20-B Deck Blue = The Fang.

* depending on the effect you're going for.

R, Jim

Good work. I still miss the great Poly S line though.

Very interesting and timely, thanks – I'll need to look at those. Can I ask what scale your models are?

Good post. This kind of thing can save a lot of work for the right person.

It might have saved a lot of work for me, but I did this same exercise with Tamiya paints a couple years ago.

Colkitto

>>Very interesting and timely, thanks – I'll need to look at those. Can I ask what scale your models are?

I do 1/2400 and 1/1800 ships.

I'm not 100% this list is correct, was hoping that someone else had looked at the paints also and could concur or discuss more, but it's something I've been working on for awhile.

R, Jim

Thanks Jim. I was asking because mine are 1/3000, and it's quite easy to use paints that look ok until they are on the model, when they turn out to be too dark.

On your choices, I wondered about Kantor Blue for 5-N. I am still unsure whether 5-N Navy Blue really was what I would call "navy blue" – i.e. actually blue – or whether it was more of a dark (but blue-ish) grey. The same would go for the other blues, although my mental picture of 20-B is quite blue for some reason. I've not found the solution myself, so am hestitant to offer any suggestions I'm afraid.

"Too dark" is a huge problem with historical colors on miniatures, and it can take ages to work out a color palette that evokes the history without exactly matching it.

My own USN color palette is both bluer and lighter than historical paint chips, because that's what I had to do to make the ships look "right" relative to each other, visible at small scale (1/2400) on a dark seascape on the tabletop. I also chose some colors that seem pretty inaccurate because I wanted increased contrast without leaving the thematic USN blue-gray color theme. For instance, most color suggestions I find and historically matched paints I've bought to be 20B Deck Blue are plain ol' gray, and look black in 1/2400 scale; I choose colors that are quite a bit bluer and lighter than historical, because up-close color photos of the period show a notable blueness to the decks. Some (or even all) of that blue impression might be an artifact of photography, but I still insist that I want that impression on my gaming table too.

>>colkitto, Yellow Admiral
The Kantor is kinda dark for the 5-N, but it contrasts well with the other colors in this list, which was just an attempt at an off-the-shelf quick list. Your 1:3k ships will be very dark with it, but if you're mixing colors anyhow, you have better choices than this list (I have a very dark blue 1/1800 Houston using this and while I like it, it's more a fresh Measure 21 than her actual gray).
For my Deck 20-B I've actually found this Apple Barrel matte Dark Blue Gray that looks sunwashed (to me) compared to using The Fang; I've done over some of my carrier and other decks with it. But I'm too far along in my revitalization program to do it with all my ships.
In the end I'm just trying for the TLAR result and I don't mind a bit of experimenting as I'm going through the fleet. Wait until I work up my list of GW/Citadel RN colors, that should be closer.

R, Jim

One thing to keep in mind is that the sea had quite an effect on weathering. If you see a photo of a navy blue ship leaving port, it shows up quite dark. After a bit of time at sea, the blues especially, but other colors as well, would tend to fade and gray out a bit.

Here is the 1/2400 USS Helena that I painted a while ago.

Slight update to the list:
5-D Dark Gray = Dawnstone
5-H Haze Gray* = Administratum Grey or Russ Grey
5-L Lt Gray* = Ulthuan Grey or Fenrisian Grey
5-P Pale Gray = Celestra Grey
5-N Navy Blue = Kantor Blue or Night Lords Blue (either not a good match, much too dark, but good contrast to other colors)
5-O Ocean Gray = Fenrisian Grey or Thunderhawk Blue*
5-S Sea Blue = Hoeth Blue
20-B Deck Blue = The Fang

* depending on the effect you're going for.

R, Jim